Tourists on Phú Quốc Island off Kiên Giang Province in the Mekong Delta. — Photo Thu Hằng

HCM CITY — HCM City and the 13 provinces and city in the Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta are stepping up efforts to boost co-operation and diversify inter-regional travel packages to attract tourists.

The tourism authorities plan to discuss ways to enhance tourism linkages and resolve the problems facing tourism management at the first HCM City and Mekong Delta Tourism Connection Forum to be held in the city on September 4-5, Bùi Tá Hoàng Vũ, director of the city Department of Tourism, said.

Travel firms would get access to newly developed tourism models and products in the Mekong Delta to develop attractive itineraries and offer diverse experiences to visitors, Vũ told a press conference on Wednesday.

The Mekong Delta has for long attracted tourist inflows through HCM City, the international gateway to the region, he said.

Also, the city hopes to get more tourists from the delta, he said.

Nguyễn Đông Hòa, deputy general director of Saigontourist, said destinations in the delta are becoming increasingly popular among foreign and domestic tourists but efforts to diversify tourism products and services are needed to realise its potential, said.

Around 70 per cent of foreign tourists visiting HCM City choose to make a trip to the delta, he said.

But tourism products in the various localities in the delta are not diverse, he said.

Trần Đoàn Thế Duy, deputy general director of Vietravel, said all travel operators offer tours to the Mekong Delta.

Tourists visit several places in the delta but the lack of regional co-ordination in developing new tourism products and poor transport infrastructure result in unexciting travel packages, he said.

Cao Xuân Thu Vân, director of the Bạc Liêu Province Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said the forum would be a platform for delta localities to establish marketing and promotion links and develop regional tour packages.

Each locality needs to develop its own unique tourism products, she said.

The forum, to be held at the Saigon Exhibition Convention Centre, will also feature a conference on investment in the culture, sports and tourism infrastructure in HCM City and the delta, a photo exhibition on tourist destinations and tourism products, and a conference on tourism co-operation between the two places. — VNS